Final check and last-minute stocking stuffers

Today on the High Tech Texan Show:

• Final check and last-minute stocking stuffers
• Why charging your phone battery to 100% may not be a good thing
• The best e-Readers on the market

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is Michael Garfi.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Michael Garfield.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Michael Garfield's joining.

Speaker 4 (00:09):
In the high Tech Texan.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Michael Garfield is here with a high Tech Texans to
make life easier, new technology, and Michael Garfield has something
you might like.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texans. Three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets. Heard worldwide on the
iHeartRadio add now you're high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
We are down to the final two weeks of this year.
Two more high Tech Texan shows to go in twenty
twenty five. Can't figure out if I'm happy about that,
but just as at this is it the almost biggie,
the final show before Christmas. So let's get it on

(01:08):
because you are struggling to find out what's the one
cool gadget, what's the one cool product I should be
getting myself, my spouse, my kids, the grandparents. That's what
I'm here for. I've done it for twenty three years
and I am your guy, at least maybe to try
to guide you through some of the things. Michael is
the name, as you heard that big booming voice at
the top, Michael Garfield, It's called the high Tech Textan. Show. Oh,

(01:31):
we talk so much more about tech, and we will
talk more about tech because it is my job to
know a little about a lot. If that makes sense
when it comes to the world of consumer electronics, consumer lifestyles. Really,
that's what we're talking about. I do it on TV.
I've done it on this radio program across the iHeartRadio
network for twenty three years. And if you think about it, man,

(01:54):
I've seen I've seen some crap come across my desk
when I go to cees, when the public relations companies
send me an email, Hey, do you want to try this?
Some of these produce Some of these things have broken
apart in my hand. Batteries don't last worth more than
two or three minutes. Some of them off are great.
I test drive a lot of cars, some of these

(02:15):
cars that I never wanted to return back. I get
cars on a weekly basis and I only get them
for seven days and they're like, oh, man, I love
this so much, I don't want to return it. So
this is what I go through. So you don't have to.
We do have open phone lines, and so if you're
out and about on a store right now, and if
I could tell you the funny stories how people have
called me when I'm on the air, from the middle

(02:36):
of an electronic store, from the middle of a department store,
from a grocery. I'm not kidding you. I take the call.
At least we try to take the call. Here comes
it is three four six twenty nine Texan three four
six two nine eight three nine two six callum or
will one of the other boys on the other side
of the glass, which are very kind enough to come
in on the few days before Christmas. Guys, they may

(02:59):
answer the phone. They may for some reason they let
it roll sleepy heads to voicemail, leave a voicemail, and
then we will play it and call out your name
and have some fun with you. You can also find
me in all well most all of the social media outlets,
high tech Texts and high tech te xc M looks

(03:19):
like it's another year. Speaking of social media outlets where
I did not join TikTok. I'm holding off for no
reason other than the fact, man, it's another social media
account that I'm have to take control of. I never did.
I am trying to pump up my LinkedIn stuff. I'm
certainly big on Instagram, getting close to fifty thousand followers,

(03:41):
I do, thank you. So that's why you need to
follow me. I'll tell you exactly why you need to
follow me here in about two or three weeks, because
when I come back from CES in Las Vegas, the
Consumer Electronic Show, I'm generally loaded up with a suitcase
or two of all these demo products that these companies
want me to play with. I'll look at them, I'll
do a quick review, and then I gotta do something
with them, and so I'll go to my Instagram, maybe

(04:02):
my X account, and I'll give them away. That's right, people,
you can have them too, but you do have to
be a follower. A follower, drink the grape kool aid
along with a little bourbon in there. High tech texts
and hi g h T e h T e x
A n there you go, high tech texts and you
know the phone numbers. So let's get going some of
the things that we are going to talk about today.

(04:23):
Very popular item that has been in many, many homes
around the world for years that helps you clean your
home when you don't have to lift a finger. Company
just went bankrupt. I'll tell you what that means to
the device that you may have right now. And I'll
also explain again, because I talked about this a week
or two ago, why smart glasses, the wearable smart glasses

(04:46):
have been the thing. In twenty twenty five, the tech
giants decided somehow that smart glasses are the next big thing,
and without a doubt, in the next few weeks, I'm
going to be playing with and testing a lot of
new pair of glasses. And I do like wearables. I
like wearables. Not the ones that you just wear on
your wrist that can tell you the time and your
blood pressure and how many steps you take. Those are wearables.

(05:09):
But the ones on your face, the ones on your eyes,
the ones that do have glasses and built in cameras
that can take videos, can take photos, can let you
talk Bluetooth without looking at your phone, and they could
do oh so much more. I will talk about that.
You're not gonna believe the word of the year, as
determined by Miriam Webster. I'd never I mean, I know
this word. I did not have to know it that

(05:32):
it came back in this year. But I choose the
one word, and I'll tell you what that is. And also,
if you're buying a few things, ever thought of an
e reader. Maybe for the older crowd. They don't need
a tablet, they don't need a phone. I've got a
whole list of good e readers out there, and other
than that, I'm going to leave it up to you
with the phone number. But I want to start with

(05:52):
this because it is Christmas season and whether or not
you celebrate Christmas, and I'm not the biggest Christmas celebrator
for lack of a better term, I will start with this,
which twas the final weekend before Christmas, and all across
the land, every listener out there is waiting for tips
from the man, and that man is me. People been

(06:14):
watching a number of Christmas movies. They've been on in
the background. Some of them have been on repeat, some
of them I do what I want to see? You
haven't been on are yet? I don't know how the
rhyme or reason. What's the Christmas movie you've already seen
the most this year? What Christmas movie have you seen
already most this year? That's on repeat and repeat? And
I know I believe it's Christmas Eve, December twenty fourth.

(06:36):
It's a Christmas story? Is that on AMC or TBS?
They play it over and Ova and OVA again, we're
not even at that point yet. For me, it seems
like every time I turn on, was it the Family Channel,
the Comedy Channel, AMC, or TBS or something. I've seen
Christmas Vacation probably more times this year than I wanted to,

(07:00):
and it's easily one of my favorite and I can
certainly know word for wordline for line about that Polar
Express I've seen a few too many times. Very cute.
I like it hot, hot, hot, and home Alone even
Home Alone too, I get it. Macaulay Cockett's making a comeback.
Mcaula Coxy has been in some commercial right now. That
do does not change. He's gotten a little taller, but

(07:20):
he's still kind of a wiry, you know, you know,
looking kid with the big red lips. So cute stuff.
But you're in Christmas Vacation, Polar Express, Home Alone. What
am I missing? I have not seen I have not
seen Love actually yet, one of my favorite movies of
all time, not even the fact it's just a Christmas movie.
I haven't even seen dine Hard Love die Hard, And
yes it's a Christmas movie, so technically has the holidays

(07:42):
heason started for me? I don't even know. I don't
think I've heard Mariah Carey song once this year. What
is happening to me? I don't even know. People Snap
me out of it and let's get into the Christmas mood.
I am going to take a break to make sure
we have time when we come back. On the other side,
you may have a product in your house that you
use in a very regular basis to clean and it

(08:02):
was one of the ones that was first to market
that started a huge market across the world. Nobody may
have went just bankrupt. What does it mean not only
for your current device and the long term warranty, but
does this mean that AI and robots are no longer
here to stay? Don't know about that unless you're called
regulars on High Tech tax in the show have meddline

(08:44):
Michael Garfield radio show sometimes called the High Tech Text
and hurt All. It's the state of Texas. Shout out
to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, the three big cities.
Appreciate you tuning in. Last last show before Christmas. Last
minute Christmas guests. Man, you got open phone lines and
we are packed. I'm here for you at three four
six twenty nine, Texan. I will tell you for some

(09:06):
reason you know, it's a really good gift for anybody,
but especially kids. I remember I was a kid. I
got into stamps. I was a stamp collector. My grandparents
started a stamp collection for me and I really got
into it. Well, I really wish they got me into
coins because my other grandparents they collected coins, and they
just had jars and cases and almost suitcases of you know,

(09:27):
pennies and quarters, and these are going back to the
nineteen sixty They are certainly worth something for some reason.
You were interested and have a coin collection, you want
to start one, you want to sell some of them?
May I recommend us coins and jewelry as I have
for the past few years. It is Houston based, second generation,
run by mister Kenneth and Matthew Duncan and just a

(09:49):
large group of very attentive staff. Very shortly they're going
to be expanding their empire on the KDI Freeway to
doubling their size into a brand new show room and
I can wait to host an MC that when it
opens eighty four thirty five Katie Freeway. If you're listening
right now on a Saturday, they are open right now
the final Saturday before Christmas you better get there. Ask

(10:12):
for Kenny, asked for Math, you know, I just asked
for everybody. Will is over there. They are constantly having
people I love going in there on a regular basis.
People will show up with a suitcase or a wagon
and they're just they're they're bringing in their coins to
get him evaluated in sel because they will pay you
in cash right there. Don't worry about security. They've got
security twenty four to seven. They will buzz you in

(10:34):
and everything is very set. But if you're looking for watches, bullion,
rare rare coins, paper money, jewelry and diamonds. I mean,
their Rolex collection is second to nine and I know
they are stocked up this time of year. If you're
looking for that hard to get Rolex, go to Matthew
Duncan dude do that? Dude is just he's what an
unbelievable knowledge that he and also Will has when it

(10:58):
comes to the Rolex. As I happen to have a
beautiful yacht Master titanium right now. It is gorgeous too,
and you can pick up a little something for your
woman also. It's just wonderful. They've got sports collectibles. If
you're big in the Texas history. I mean, I can
go on and on, but it's just top notch Kenny.
Right now, I will tell you one of the top
numismatists in the United States of America, constantly traveling the

(11:20):
country looking forward just to know great unique coins. I
mean everything from the Chinese pan of the Mexican pesso,
of the American eagles, American buffalo, Canadian maple leaf that's
just gold, the South African cugram, and speaking of gold, Canny.
I started about a year and a half ago. Kenny said,
you need to buy some gold. I said, what do
I need to buy gold for? He goes, the price
is going to go up. The price of gold about

(11:41):
a year and a half ago may have been a thousand,
may have been fifteen hundred dollars. Dude, I'm so mad
I didn't listen to my man Kenny. The price of
gold right now is about forty three hundred dollars and ouns.
What was I thinking of? This is why you go
to the experts. If you're not in Houston, don't worry
about it. Absolutely trust them when it comes to the web,
US coins and Jewelry dot Com. And again when you

(12:04):
go in there's a number of different Michaels to promote them.
I'm the real Michael. People you tell them Michael Garfield said,
what's up eighty four thirty five Katie Freeway in Houston
seven one three, five nine, seven fifty three sixty seven.
I recommend so many products, so many things. And the
world of consumer lifestyle ain't nothing better than what the
boys have at us coins enjoy. They are so good.

(12:27):
And with that we do continue to high tech texts
and show. I'm going to give you some bad news
right now. But there was a company who just recently
went bankrupt and there's a good percentage you and you
may actually have this product in your home. Who has
a roomba from the company I Robot. Whoops? Because vacuums

(12:54):
they're supposed to suck up dust, not bite it, and
the company has bit the dust. I tell you that
right now. The company that makes rumba, it's called I Robot.
They file for bankruptcy protection about a week ago. They
did announce it's going to be acquired by its main
manufacture and lender, which is based in China. Now I

(13:15):
will tell you this, don't panic people, always calm, remain well,
I Robot did say the restructuring won't affect its existing
products or their customer service, at least, let's hope not
the worst case. At this new company, which also sells
robot vacuums and makes them for other companies, if they
ultimately decide to strip I robot for parts, your rumor

(13:38):
still should work, just without an app or cloud connectivity.
In let's look at why a company that was valued
so much a few years ago has sucked. And I
say that with a pun intended because it's a it's
a vacuum. The company's value crashed back in twenty twenty one.
It was at three point six billion dollars, down to

(14:02):
one hundred and forty million right now. This is according
to London Stock Exchange growth. In twenty fifteen, I Robot
had so much money that it launched a venture capital
arm But in the past recent years it's business just
kind of didn't go well. Now, I will tell you this,

(14:22):
I Robot still controls about forty two percent of the
US robot vacuum market. But here's the thing. Cheaper Chinese
alternatives and the post pandemic supply chain issues they've caused
its earnings to decline in these past four years. Then
we've got tariffs recently this year of forty six percent

(14:45):
tariff imposed by the US on goods from Vietnam where
these are built, cost I Robot twenty three million dollars
and it complicated its future planning. So that is one
of the main reasons why a big company like that
just I'm not gonna say went belly up, but it

(15:08):
just didn't work. But I will tell you right this,
because I followed the industry, what happened to I Robot
can happen to anyone. Nobody is immune to knockoffs and
bad decision making and tariffs. And if you look at that,
that's really what happened. I mean, the knockoffs, especially what

(15:33):
China can do, can be brilliant, and they could be
cheaper than these big brand names. And without a doubt,
we're gonna say rumbat from I Robot. They were the
first to market. It was a marketing. It was it
was clever. How can a robot actually just without with
a punch of a button or checking on an app,

(15:53):
go around by itself and clean and sweep up the carpet.
And then it got really smart because they added a
mop first, then it mops floors. Yes, Rosie the robot
from the Jetsons could do this, But then other companies
started to flood the market with cheaper models, and I
Robot needed to make it clear that what it meant

(16:15):
when you bought a Rumba over a g generic model,
What did and what could it offer beyond the name
and history that made it stand out against cheaper competitors.
Companies like Apple and dysoned think about it. They command
a premium, but you almost know what you're getting for
the money. What are you getting for your money with

(16:39):
something like this in that room of vacuum that you
really can't get from dozens and dozens of other robot
vacuums that are cheaper. So many other companies over the
years have fallen into this trap. You come out strong,
you own the market, in which they still do to

(17:00):
some point. But losing a value of three point five
BILLSKI to one hundred and forty million dollars, Well, I'm
not sure. I say this because in about three weeks,
when I will be in Las Vegas for CEES, I
will be looking at more robots than I can shake
a stick out, not just robots that do sweep, that
do vacuum, that do mop. Last year, all of these

(17:23):
robotic vacuums added an arm. I'm not kidding you. As
they're scooting across the carpet sweeping up everything, a robotic
arm will come up. It's kind of freaky. Dekia will
come up and out and it'll remove like a child
sock or a toy, so it doesn't have to go
around it. There's I have a robotic eye. I think
I have two robotic at least vacuums that I have
right now. There's a built in camera so if I

(17:46):
wanted to and I'm remote, I actually can look at
a point of view of the camera down load of
when it's going underneath my chairs and tables and chasing heads.
I don't have any pets, but you know what's going on.
I can talk through the camera, so I could talk
to my dog if I had a dog right now. Robots,

(18:06):
I'm not saying they're bad. They're very smart. They can
save this time. Can't tell you the last time or
if I've even ever mop my floor at home, and
I have all wood floors, because I do have a
robotic vacuum in a robotic mop to do that. But
for clarity, if you are an eye robot, eye room,
but owner room but owner, you're fine for right now.

(18:28):
I will keep you updated, but tune in and in
about two or three weeks when I bring back a
ton more of these robots that probably not only clean,
not only sweep, not only mop, but I'll probably cook
your meal to and could feed you. Certainly within five years,
it's gonna do that. We're gonna come back by them
of the Hour and talk about smart glasses and also
Merriam Webster's word.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
Of I believe what it is only.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
My dear on my high Time one of our final
shows that you hear my part show that's called the

(19:11):
High Tech SAX Show, going through a lot of the gifts,
a lot of news in the world of tech. Best
products of twenty twenty five. If you've got one in yours, hey,
I'd love to hear you. Interactive radio show people, I'd
loved it. I've already kind of been over the past
few weeks talking about some of my favorite products of
the year. Some drones, some e bikes, some cameras, some glasses.
They're really fun. Three four six, twenty nine textan Hey,

(19:32):
feel free to send me some dogs. Hey man, garf,
I bought this thing. This thing fell apart. It is horrible.
You got another product. And that's what I do. That's
what that's that is what Michael is here for high
tech texting dot com and also and all the social
media channels. H I G h T E c h
T e X A n big music guy saw the
list of the top songs of twenty twenty five, as

(19:56):
I guess rated by Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Fan, the
magazine back in the day. It's a little too hard
rock is just kind of out of the end. I'm
more of a pop eighties guy. But you know, instead
of these countdowns are funny. I'm looking at the top
ten right now. I'm trying to see how many I
have heard of this year. I am hip, hoppyt hotnin

(20:18):
At least I tell my kids that, because at least
I do know some of the singers and songs. In
terms of the singer it's say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
I've heard of eight of the top ten artist songs.
I don't know. I'll go ahead and get this one
out of the way. Corney of the Rolling Stone the

(20:39):
number one song of twenty twenty five Abra Cadabra by
Lady Gaga. I'm trying to think if I remember that
it may have come out this summer, but if I
hear Abrakadabra, I'm thinking Steve Miller band. Okay, this is
the age I am. Folks. All right, that's number one.

(21:03):
I'll go to number three because I've heard of it.
I've heard of Golden By from K Pop Demon Hunters.
I've never seen that show. It's like the hotest show
of the year so far. Number four is by Bad Bunny.
Can't tell you what it is because it's in Puerto Rican.
With all due respect, I know he makes great music.
He's gonna be the super Bowl value I know of
Bad Bunny. Five is Killanie Folded. I like Kilanie. She's good.

(21:25):
Six Sabrina Carpenter Manchild. I like Sabrina Carper She's funny.
She's got a great pr staff because they put her
on Saturday Night Live all the talk shows. She's cute,
she's funny, like Sabrina Carpenter a lot. It's good. Eight Shockingly,
Taylor Swift, She's number eight. That's Stephen higher than the

(21:46):
Kansas City. She's finished the afc OH I went there. Sorry,
Kelsey nine, Kendrick Lamar and Siza Luther. That's a good song.
That's a great song. Was Abad it was a hot
song of the summer, Kendrick. And then is chapel Rome subway?
I don't know the subway. I do like some chapel room.
So anyway, this I guess it shows my age. Maybe

(22:09):
it doesn't, but I at least I've heard some of these.
I mean, I'll go back three or four years, ain't lion.
Maybe you've heard of one or zero of these things.
But at least I'm getting more with it. Right, kids,
I appreciate that phone number here. You can feel free
to sing to me if you see. Because we don't
have the money at iHeartRadio to license bump music and
songs I just talked about for our podcast because we're

(22:33):
too cheap. That's why they tell me feel free to
come call on sing three four six twenty nine texts
in three four six twenty nine texts and smart glasses.
I love wearables. I like I think it's fun that
we can utilize technology that we could strap on our bodies,
our wrist of smart watches in step counters, and we

(22:57):
can monitor the blood pressure, and we can monitor there
are oxygen level and we could you know, do a number,
and it's getting better and better. Medical. I mean, I've
fallen and I can't get up. But for some reason,
you know, you could set something on these new watches
right now that for some reason, if you come to
a sudden stop or if you notice as a certain fall,
it'll call up an emergency number. It's good. I don't

(23:18):
seem any downside to some of that thing. But of
one of the areas that I've really been fascinated are
smart glasses. And I'm gonna go back to well, I
guess I can go back before I was born in
the nineteen fifties and sixties, and you thumb through the
back page of a catalog be it Sears catalog, and
you can get X ray glasses. Who I'm gonna buy

(23:39):
these because I'm gonna see through all those girls dresses
and look at their bras. Right, Yeah, that, how'd that
work out? Didn't work out? I think the real smart
glasses came into play twenty eleven, was it or twenty thirteen?
Google came up with what was called Google Glass, and
I remember a buddy mine went, I mean to get
Google Glass. It was only in a beta st age,

(24:01):
and when Google relaunches something, at least what they did
it was it wasn't for the masses. They called it beta,
so maybe on their taxes or whatever, they couldn't say, well,
it was a failed launch. We were just testing it
out where it was in beta format. He had to
fly to where is Google? Is that in California? I
think it was one thousand dollars at least, and he

(24:23):
came back, great packaging. He came up to my radio
studio and he let me try him on, and I
think that they were badass. Man. It was cool because
it had one of the very first cameras that would
record video without you actually holding up a camera. You
would just look at someone and it would record video

(24:44):
and then you could talk to it. And then the
neat thing about it, it would It had an internal display,
so as you're looking through the clear glasses on the
corner of your eye, it replicated whatever you were looking
at on the web. If you're looking at a web page,
for example, and obviously when you look at your phone

(25:06):
and you look at a web page, I'm sorry, it's
only gonna be about what three inches across five inches
across tops, But when it projects it that close to
your eye, it looks like the screen is about twelve
to fifteen feet long. So yes, you can look at
a movie type of quality as you're streaming it from
your phone. This is twelve thirteen years ago. In today,

(25:28):
it wasn't well accepted, and I think it was. I'll
tell exactly the reason why Google Glass failed. It was
not the technology. It was before its time. It was brilliant,
like several other products that are slow to roll out
or totally just kind of bit the dust. It was
the user adoption. Users could not grasp their hands or

(25:53):
minds around it to figure out is this the good thing?
Is it going to save me time? Are there downsides?
And oh yes, yes. It was quite expensive back of
the day compared to other things. People were afraid that
when you're looking at them, they were videotaping you. What
are you supposed to do about it? Well, and then
that idea died for six seven years. It's come back

(26:17):
right now because smart glasses quote unquote, they're the thing
this year. Tech giant technology companies, they're deciding right now
that smart glasses now are back and they are the
next big thing they do. I mean, look at Meta,
which owns Instagram and Facebook. Meta has partnered with ray
Band and they're on think. They're they're a third version
of glasses that you can look through that also has

(26:40):
a video camera in the temple that's facing out words
that you can shoot up to a three minute video
or just snap all the photos you want now to
get around the are you videotaping me or you're not
videotaping me? When you're videotaping, the glasses will emit this
little red flashing LIGHTEP and beat, but red flash, red flash,

(27:01):
So at least when you're looking at someone, they could
see this red flashing light knowing that they're being videoed. Yes,
there are ways around to disguise the red white light
so you don't even know. We're not even going into
that semi illegal is not illegal, but a moral thing.
But they're here. But the smart glasses, I have had

(27:22):
four or five different types of pair this year, and
I'm getting ready early January when I go to Vegas
at CES, I am getting ready to try so many
more headsets versus smart glasses. There's a difference. Hey, Michael,
aren't VR headsets and smart glasses kind of the same thing? Well,
yes and no. They're both types of gadgets that require

(27:45):
kind of similar software and hardware, but you use them
in very different ways. Virtual reality goggles they're very big,
they're very heavy, they look like ski goggles. Generally, you
can't see directly out of them. You just put them
on your face and you could play video games and
you could pretend you're in a three D world. But
they're not smart glasses. Most modern headsets they have exterior

(28:09):
cameras that you know, they support some level of mixed reality.
But what makes you so sure that smart glasses are in?
What makes them smart? You know? It was twenty thirteen.
Let's go, let's skip past that Google glass. But now
there's these meta ray band They used to have ray
band stories and now they're lightweight, they're relatively affordable for

(28:35):
three hundred to four hundred dollars instead of big, you know,
Apple's big, lackluster VR goggles that were thirty five one
hundred dollars. Samsung has a Galaxy SR headset. Android makes
its own too. There's I'm using one right now that
can project on the lens when I'm wearing them directions

(28:57):
of where I'm going. I use my phone. I connected
to my phone, I can put in from A to
B when I'm driving or walking up and down the
city blocks without looking at my phone. I'm just looking
straight and it's gonna superimpose a map. It's not gonna
strop my vision. It's kind of like a head's up
display when you're driving in a car, and it's gonna
tell me to turn left and right. If this is

(29:19):
from a company called even Realities, they got the G
two version, I'm hopefully I'm gonna come back. I've got
one from x Reel. X Reel I think is in
their second mode, and I really can't tell you what
the new x reel are gonna do, but these are
ones that they do have a cord and they connect
directly to your phone and it'll project what you're seeing

(29:39):
on the phone and about one hundred and twenty inch
screen that's perfect taking these things, like say on an airplane,
you could just kind of kick back stream something on
your phone instead of just looking at the phone that's
four inches wide. Now you've got like a twelve foot screen.
It's really good smart glasses, the way to go, pretty
decent price. If you're looking for one last minute, I
am here for you. Let me give you the number.

(30:01):
Three four six twenty nine Texan. This will be a
big topic when I come back and when I come
live from Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show in
early January. We're gonna take a break, final break. I
do promise Miriam Webster's word of the Year. Any guesses
The first time I saw this word, I'm like, well,
it's not a technology type of thing. Again, I do

(30:22):
more than a technology type of show. But if you
can guess this, I have to give you a kid,
call stand by. It's Michael Blackwell. Fine a few minutes

(30:44):
of this first hour of the High Tik Texan show
me Christmas and I guess it's what are we in
the seventh night of Hanukah? One night to go? If
you got a good Honkkah gift, let me know I'm
here for you. Three four six twenty nine Michael Garfield,
The High Tech Texting Show heard across hall state of

(31:04):
Texas terrestrially, Hello San Antonio in Dallas and Houston. And
if you're not listening, to Estli. You're either listening on iHeartRadio,
you got the podcast, or you're listening live on the
iHeartRadio app. One of the best apps that you could
download this year. I haven't talked about my favorite apps
this year. What's your favorite app? And we can open
that next hour. Favorite app of the year. Almost too

(31:25):
many to count. I used to count down my top
ten favorite app. The must have apps. It's I don't
even I even know it's a must have app. Really,
the only must have apps that I know on a phone,
it's your text messaging service, it's the phone calling and
answering service. Those are apps, whatever you think of or not. Yes,

(31:48):
a smartphone is in a phone. I'm gonna actually cut
a computer. Oh by the way, it's a phone. But
you need the phone app, you need the text messaging app,
calendar app, the email app, and that's what I use.
Those are my three five. I can look at all
the quote unquote apps that I use on a regular basis,
and you could do that no matter what phone you have.

(32:08):
Sometimes it's fun to take a look how much time,
how many hours per week, and what apps have I
used most? I use texting, I use phone, I use email,
I use the web, I use the maps, I do
use iHeartRadio. I watched some TV too, but it goes

(32:28):
on and on. All right, we're off the app stuff
over here? Words? What are words for? What are words for?
Merriam Webster? Who is Miriam Webster? Is that a husband
wife team? I don't know? So can someone quickly google
that from me? It's a dictionary. And you know what,
I don't even want to go you young kids. I
don't want to even tell you what a dictionary is.

(32:49):
Just it doesn't make sense. Merriam Webster has settled on
a word that represents the year twenty twenty five. It
is a dictionary, and each year they come up with something,
and they came up with a word of twenty twenty five.
In before I saw what the word was, I was
trying to think what it was. This has been a

(33:10):
very sad year. It's been a horrible year. Harriff could
have been a big one, Nope, Tariff is not it.
Could it be anti semitism, Nope, should be not anti semitism.
Gonda be sadness, nope. Gotta be a lot of words here.
It comes, folks, drum roll, Priest Miriam Webster's twenty twenty

(33:31):
five Word of the Year is slop. Slop, slop. I'm
reading this, it's like, what is slop? Well, Merriam Webster
defines slop as let me give you a quote here,
digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity,

(33:56):
by means of artificial intelligence LLO. Something that many people
have become familiar with is AI generated content really does
permeate what we're looking at on the Internet. So I'm
delving deeper how they come up with slop and what
are they specifically they're talking about. Well, some of the
more popular sites of the web this year they took

(34:19):
steps to really stave off the infestation of AI slop.
I think YouTube's done a good job. Wikipedia, I'm always
a fan of Spotify, Pinterest, Yes, but there's others that
are embracing artificial intelligence. Look at what open ai is doing.
Open ai, that's Sam Altman, that's chat GPT's you know,

(34:39):
big company. Look at Meta, that's right, the zucker versus
Zuckerberg Meta owner Instagram, Facebook, they have apps that are
really dedicated to streams of AI generated videos that you
can scroll through, you can share. Even Disney Disney just
struck a deal to bring Sora and if you haven't

(35:01):
been follown sore sr A, it's a hell of an app.
They generate videos because Disney took a billion dollar equity
Steak and Chat GPT slash open AI. So going back,
it's and again I'm gonna go to Miriam Webster. This
is what they write about it. I'm gonna give you
a quote again, like slime, sludge and muck slop has

(35:26):
the wet sound of something you don't want to touch.
The word sends a little message to AI when it
comes to replacing human creativity. Sometimes you don't seem too
super intelligent. Think about that. It's for oh look at
this some of the other words and phrases that didn't
make it. Oo, look at me pulling this one right

(35:47):
out of my pants. Harriff close runner up, Jerry Mander.
I see what they're doing over there. Performative. Okay, if
this if you were Marrion Webster, what was your what
was your word? Of twenty twenty five? Only got a
few more minutes here in this hour, but we do
have some opening lines on the other side. And this

(36:07):
is also if you're too shy to call and if
you're sitting in a stoplight and you just don't want
to talk to me, and you just want to like
text me or post something. This is a perfect time
to text me your word of the year sex a
word of the ear. Text it to me high tech
text and I'm gonna spell it out h I G
H T E C h T E x A N
and just but garth. My word of the ear is boom.

(36:33):
I don't know, slop. They kind of made that one up,
at least in this way shape and form, because I
think Arif was always out there. I mean, I'll kind
of give Jerry Manner and a few others like that
that slop. That's I think Merriam Webster took the sloppy
way out. You see what I did there, That's exactly
what they did. I do have some emails. I'm not

(36:55):
gonna get to them, but let me give you the
email subject because a lot of people email, and I'm
gonna give you my number one or two email questions
I've got over the past few months. This one's kind
of a low hanging fruit because a lot of people
are getting new phones, new cases, phone accessories for the
holiday season. Michael Discharging your phone battery hurt. At what

(37:17):
point can or could you overcharge your battery that makes
it too hot, that can actually harm you. I actually
have an answer for that. That's the answers that I do.
Also for those of you in Texas, I should make this.
We need a sponsor for this, We need a What

(37:38):
the hell has Ken Paxton been up to this month?
Our illustrious eternal Attorney General. Not a political show, but
there's always something going on with Kenny got a boy
very I don't know if he's anti tech, but he's
always out for some company. Oh he's going after a
big one too. He didn't see this in the news

(37:59):
this week. It's what's Kenny Paxton's been up to talk
about that next hour along with some of the best
e readers and your phone called the Name of Michael
is the name? Hope you're having fun on the last
weekend before Christmas at twenty twenty five, keep hearing it
for one more hour of Michael Garfield. It's called the
high Tech Texan.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Shows is Michael garfil Michael Garfield.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Michael Garfield's joining.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
In the high Tech Texan.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Michael Garfield is here with a high Tech Texas it
to make life easier technology, and Michael.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 5 (38:50):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texas three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets worldwide. On the iheardware
You'll ask now you're high tech Textan Michael Garfield.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
We are exactly halfway through the high Tech Texan show
on the Saturday before Christmas. And you know what, it's
the Saturday before Christmas. It's the weekend. It's ball season.
The weather's good. Even got NFL games on a Saturday
and a Sunday night. So you know what, start drinking
because it is a halfway a happy hour. You know

(39:33):
what it is happy hour? Just just don't drink and drive.
But feel free to listen and drink and or drive,
but don't do two of them at the same time.
You know what I'm talking about. Michael is the name.
Michael Garfield had a very good, big first hour talking
about the world's largest robotic vacuum company goes bankrupt. I Robot,

(39:53):
the manufacturer of room buff You miss that. You got
a room bah. It's still gonna work. I give you
the breakdown. But I I talked about how a company
a few years ago that was worth three and a
half billion dollars, can lose its share and lose so
much money that it's only worth one hundred and forty
million dollars right now. A lot of a lot of
copycats out there. I'm not saying they didn't do a
smart job of you know, trademarking things, but there's a

(40:15):
lot of knockoffs and that can happen to so many
other companies. But if you do want to go back
and listen to the podcast, because it's just so entertaining, man,
just so entertaining and fun listening to me. You know,
natural energy other than coke zero a little iced t
that's where I get the caffeine. You can go to iHeartRadio,
download the app. You can just look at your favorite
radio station, be at KPRC Houston. You can look at

(40:38):
WAI San Antonio, kfx R in Dallas, or you can
just look for Michael Garfield or high Tech Text and
you can listen to the your first hour. Alas, we
are in the second hour right now, and you're not
listening to slop. You don't understand what that meant unless
you listened to the last segment of last hour. The

(40:58):
Miriam Webster word of the Year for twenty twenty five
is slop. It's pretty much all of the crap that
is out there on the web that AI has been producing.
They probably could have come up with a better name

(41:19):
for it other than slap. When I think of slop,
I think of food, I think of s os, I
think of just we're taking some brisket and whatever and
we're just slapping it on a piece of bread. That's
that's just slop manwich. With all due respect, I don't
know slop. But no, no, this is a technology drum.
This is Miriam Webster. We're still coming up. What is

(41:39):
your word of the year. If you have to come
up with one word, find me on X High Tech
text and h I G H T E C h
T E X A N big, big question, A lot
of of all the questions I get, and I get
a lot of emails each week. Michael Garfield to iHeartMedia

(42:00):
dot com, ask in my opinion, my advice. What's the
best price should I get this product day versus product
beats the same category doesn't matter if it's a car,
TV phone, battery, accessory, clothing, bourbon big bourbon guy. If
you're looking for brown water. I'm your guy beer love

(42:21):
beer too. I'm your consumer laftag guy. That's me, but
one of the top three or four questions. I've got
a lot of phones. A lot of smartphones is gonna
be given this season. Sometimes you have to eat. People
want to know. Is it hard to transfer all of
your stuff from one phone to a new phone? Man,
I got so many contacts, all my websites, all my photos,

(42:43):
all my videos, and it's gonna take forever. I remember
the day where you did have to go into your
local data cell phone store, give them your old phone.
They put it on some contraption machine to the new phone,
and it takes him a few hours to transfer everything.
It is so simple to do it now. I do
it on a very regular basis because I get a

(43:04):
new phone to test, probably once a month. In some instances,
you turn it on the old phone, you turn on
the new phone. You take the new phone and you scare.
You take the camera of the new phone and you
scan a QR code that appears on your old phone.
They sync up. You can put a wire, it can
go over your WiFi. They go Bluetooth. Maybe it'll take

(43:25):
thirty forty five minutes, depending on how many photos and
videos you have, because that's the heaviest thing. Boom transfers automatically.
So it's not the question I'm trying to get to
or the answer I'm trying to get to. But it's
very simple to get a new phone. It's not a
big deal. The big question I get is battery garf
Does charging your phone battery hurt it? At what point?
Can you plug it in so much it gets so hot?

(43:47):
Because I've heard that, do you really want to charge
it to one hundred percent? Do you only want to
go to eighty percent? Because they're lithium my eyes? Very
good questions because people give you the advice all the time,
don't keep your phone plugged in once it's fully charged.
To me, the answer is that is ancient history. Modern
smartphones they are now smart enough to cut off the

(44:09):
power once they're fully charged. So leaving your iPhone, leaving
your Android plugged in overnight, it is not going destroy
its battery. You are welcome, But to be clear, just
because it's safe doesn't mean it's optimal. So while you
can't technically overcharge a battery, keeping a lithium ion cell

(44:34):
phone penned at one hundred percent, it does create what
we call voltage stress and the heat that's generated from
sitting on a charger. That's the real silent enemy of
a phone's longevity. Let me give you the science over here.
Battery health is not just about how many times you

(44:55):
charge your phone, but it's also about how it manages
voltage and temperature maintenance. Lithium ion batteries they age the
fastest when they're exposed to extreme levels zero percent and
one hundred percent the lowest level in the highest level.
So keeping these batteries near full charge for long stretches

(45:16):
of time puts additional voltage stress on that battery. That's
why many devices dose something called the trickle charge. Maybe
they temporarily pause it at one hundred percent and they
top up only when needed. But that biggest threat, it's
not overcharging, it's the heat. As I say, they can't
stand a heat. Get the hell out of the kitchen.

(45:38):
When your phone is plugged in and is running all
your apps, it produces heat that accelerates chemical wear inside
that battery. And if you're gaming, if you're streaming, and
if you're charging on a hot day, and I say
this is in Texas. You ever brought your phone out
to a pool where you're laying out in the sun.

(46:01):
I think gets hot and sometimes it shut down. That
extra warmth does far more harm than leaving the cable
plugged in overnight. We look at Apple. Apple has a
battery guide and it describes lithium ion batteries as consumable
components that naturally lose capacity over time. Now iPhone uses

(46:21):
what's called the optimized battery charging. It learns your daily routine,
pauses charging it about eighty percent until just before you
typically unplug it. That reduces the time spent at the
high voltage. A lot of Android makers they offer a
similar feature. It's called battery Protect. So it's enabled. It

(46:41):
caps charging it eighty five percent and that helps reduce
stress during long charging sessions. You follow me here. There
are some Android makers Google one plus Zaomi. They call
it adaptive charging, maybe optimized charging, maybe battery care. And
when it does, it dynamically slows the power deliver your
limit charges on your habits. So when you are gaming

(47:06):
or using using your phone for four K video editing
while charging, that can cause temperature spikes which can really
degrade the battery, so unplug it. There's no need to
really change your habits just a few tweeks. Keep your
phone cool when charging, trying not to assess over topping
off the charge. You don't need to be a one

(47:27):
hundred percent. I know I love being a one hundred percent,
but it's okay. But the bottom line, keep your phone
plugged in overnight or on your desk all day. It's
not going to destroy its battery. Modern phones are smart
enough to protect themselves. No battery last forever. I will
tell you that, and I hope that helps. That's the question.
Did I talk you off the ledge? Good? Congrats with
your new phone. Probably not gonna come back next week

(47:48):
from CES with new phones. Not a lot of new
phones are announced at consumer electronics shows. They're launched throughout
the year. But I'm going to come back with a
hell of a lot of batteries, accessories, hammra cases, phone cases.
I'm gonna come back and I'll tell you what these are.
Stocking stuffers. You know, even though it's past Christmas, you
want to win some of these. This is why you
follow me on Instagram. High tech text at h I

(48:11):
G h T E C h T e X A
N when we come back. What's Ken Paxton meant up to?
That's right. If you're in Texas, you know who the
Attorney General is not to be fan of technology. He's
he's swinging big georg As. As we end the year,
I'm actually gonna meet a lot of these companies he's
suing right now. They're gonna like me. We'll come back

(48:33):
and play that story. Right, You're on the High Tech
Texting Show. Still here for another forty minutes or so.

(49:00):
Michael is the name, Michael Garker. We call this the
High Tech Textan Show. If you're listening across Texas, doesn't matter,
San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, the big cities. That is us
on the iHeart Radio network. You can also listen to
the iHeartRadio app anywhere around the world. Obviously, this is
our last Saturday before Christmas, night number seven of Hanukah.
I hope you've had a good honk, have you celebrated,

(49:21):
and I hope you're not rushing out to hurry up
and get your little Christmas gifts. If you think you're
going to ordering online, man it is Dick Docket's getting
to the end. Might I recommend for those who are
big fans of the outdoor life. Maybe you really love golfing,
Maybe you finally wanted to say, you know what, I
think I need to join a very special club, a

(49:42):
country club that literally is in the country peacefulness. You
like golf, well, let's shoot for the number one rated
private golf course in the state of Texas. You like hunting,
you like skeet shooting pheasants, you like fishing, you like
fly fishing. Thinking of maybe, you know, joining as a member,

(50:03):
building a home, maybe a second home out there overlooking
beautiful fairways. Might I recommend Big Easy Ranch, the great
a guess gift for Christmas you have ever potentially had.
Go online check it out bigeasyranch dot com. I know
it because about three months ago I became a member
and it is. It's a haven, and it is a heaven.

(50:24):
All from the brilliant mind of a gentleman named Billy
Brown lives in the southwest side of Houston. I just
had an idea and says, you know what, let me
find about two thousand acres. We're gonna gate the entire place.
We're gonna put some exotic animals all over the place. Man,
you drive in carefully. You're gonna see deer popping around
these beautiful lakes. You've got waterfalls. And when I say
it's the number one rated private golf course in Texas,

(50:45):
I ain't lying according to the Dallas Morning News, which
as a Dallas boy, I trust them for whatever they say.
And I've played the Covey. It's called the Covey, and
this is I've played a lot of golf courses. I'm
not bragging. Yes, I played Pebble Beach and many others.
But it's unbelievable for Texas. For if you're in Houston,
if you're an hour and ten hour and fifteen minutes away,

(51:06):
if you're listening in at Austin, you're about the same
distance right off of iten in Columbus, Texas. It is.
It's incredible. It's night the lodge, six or seven chefs
always out there with wonderful food. The guy gat breakfast
talkers before you tee off of the golf Academy, and
they've got their own private section over there where you
can go in and you know, you can shoot and
just bring all your a lot of corporate outings and

(51:28):
things over there. But it's it's phenomenal. Congratulations to what
Billy Brown has done. And Ricky Lyon's the general manager,
and Nicole who is the membership director out there showing
you a round. It is fun. So can't think of
any last minute gift for twenty twenty five going into
twenty twenty six. Maybe you want to do something a
little different. Maybe you've been to a country club that's
you know what. Maybe it's in the middle of the

(51:49):
Houston or the outskirts of Houston, but you go to
a real country club. You know, the name country is
there for a reason and Big Easy Ranch dot Com
is the reason. Just go look some of the video.
You will thank me also, so away Merry Christmas of
the guys out there, and for some reason you do
happen to join, use my name, you can refer me.
I get nothing in return of the little pat on

(52:11):
the back. Okay, maybe they'll buy me a bourbon or
something like that, but anyway, it's it's good. I hope
to see out there at the club as we do
continue the Michael Garfield Show the Saturday before Christmas over here.
You know, I test drive a lot of vehicles too.
What was I driving this week?

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (52:27):
What a way to end the year in a Ford
Ford I'm sorry about that. In a Kia caravan. That's right, people,
it is a minivan. Yeah, we had many vans going up.
We have three boys. You got to have many vans.
We don't have to, but we did. There are may
be only four manufacturers of mini vans on the market

(52:49):
right now, maybe four. Very impressed with Kia's done. I've
always been a Kia fan. Like what the South Korean
Iss companies does. This drives like a car. It is
incredibly it's not. I love the outside look because they've
got this. I've got this special versions like blacked out wheels,
blacked out grill. It's parked in front of my house

(53:09):
and people come up, when my neighbors come up, and like,
that doesn't look like a minivan. It does look like
an suv in some extent. Yes, it's got sliding doors,
but you get in those sliding doors. This is my
quick review of the Kia Carnival. Again, Kia does not
pay me. I'm not gonna go tell you a dealership.
This is just me like I've done for fifteen years
reviewing cars. But this particular line they tricked it out

(53:32):
for auto reviewers like myself. It has got two large
screen TV monitors. We're just video monitors on the back
of the driver's seat, in the back of the passenger seat.
So if you're sitting in the second row, whoever sitting
back there, and assume their kids and they want to
play their video games, they want to stream a movie.
These are what are these like? Fifteen inch TVs? Put

(53:53):
on the headset. You're set to go. The second row
seats reclined. They look like first class seats in an airplane.
Little your little legs and your ankles can come up. Oh,
it's great. It hauls everything. It's They really did a
good job. Congrats to Kia. If you're looking for a minivan,
don't take it for granted. Go to a Kia dealership.
I'm not gonna tell you any I don't even know
key dealerships off the top of my head. Wherever you are,

(54:15):
it's I don't know. Let's just like smart glasses are
back in. Let's let's let's make minivans back in. I really,
I really, I'm serious. My job is to rag on
these things. Really couldn't anything to rag on it. It
was fun. Other than the fact that that's called the
word minivan. I think that's the biggest thing that minivans
have against him. It's it's called a minivan. We'll just
call it a Kia Carnival and it actually works well.

(54:37):
Talk about cars a lot. Let me give you some
news or cars. Ford not having a great year because
they just they're expecting to write a almost twenty billion
dollar hit this year because you know why, they bet big,
not long ago on electric vehicles. Well, get squ when

(55:00):
the smartest bet twenty billion dollars. Ford said a few
days ago that its strategy has shifted away from evs
and the going towards hybrids. I wish they would have
listened to me. And it's going to reduce the profit
in the very near term. Okay, So the decision to
put its electric vehicle plans into reverse kind of means that,

(55:21):
for it's going to stop producing an all electric version
of that really cool f one to fifty lightning pickup truck,
and it's not going to offer an extended range electric
vehicle that's going to have a gas power generator capable
of recharging its battery hybrid hybrid meaning battery and gas.

(55:43):
I've long been a hybrid fan not the plug in hybrids.
I and this is me personally. I review vehicles all
the time. I am just not one to plug things in. Yes,
I have ADHD. Yes, I'm in the mode where I
don't have any kids. I want to get between A
to B. I live in Houston, I want to see
my son in Austin Boom. I want to go see
my parents in Dallas Boom. I really don't want to

(56:05):
stop at the road. Hopefully I'm gonna find a charger.
Hopefully they're gonna be up the full speed with their
battery and then waiting thirty to forty five minutes a
top off at eighty percent. It's just not me. I
think they're good second vehicles. I think they're good if
you drive from your home, maybe to the kids to school,
maybe it's your an office where you also have a charger.
I think think it's fine, but as a one car family,
just not for me. Ford and many of the manufacturers

(56:29):
have seen it. In this case, I just saw the
news forward twenty billion dollar hit. They, like many other
US automakers, kind of out of step with the Chinese
competitors because the Chinese are selling really cheap electric models,
which the Chinese could do. So there is the europe
update of everything that you need to know. When it
comes to the cars. This is a good time. And

(56:50):
I do have one buddy of mine who is a
car owns a number of car dealerships in around the
Houston Era area. I ask him, I really thought, is
December the best month to buy a car? Now, I'm
not gonna steer you wrong, and I'm not even gonna
tell you his I don't endorse them, so I'm not
even gonna tell you who it is, where it is,
where to go. Sales as of last week in mid

(57:11):
December was were kind of eh. In his words, they
were just ah right. But the biggest week of the year,
according to him, between Christmas and New Year's. Maybe it's
because you want, you know, just year end bonuses, the
tax ride offs. They want to get it off their
twenty you know, twenty five inventory, whatever it is. But
he is prepared, he himself, who could retire many years ago,

(57:32):
He does work. He ain't going nowhere for vacation the
last week between Christmas and New Year's. And so maybe
next week we'll talk about it and I'll give you
a little more specifics of deals that are out there,
but for some reason you happen to be in the
mode for buying a vehicle next week probably could be it.
And there you go. That's kind of out. We do

(57:53):
it on the old High Tech Textan Show. If you travel,
you may want to hang around for the next segment,
one of the final few segments, because traveling not the
easiest thing in the world right now, maybe not the
cheapest thing in the world right now, especially if you're flying.
Getting through the airports the whole tsa issue we had
last month. But there are apps that are out there
to help you around. And if you live in a

(58:14):
big major hub, like a big city like Houston and
maybe Dallas, maybe San Antonio where we're trusty heard got
a little tips for you from the head of tech
Hollis from a major airline itself. Look at me bringing
in the big dolls right here, and Michael got a
big show. We do continue the long running High Tech

(58:56):
Texan Show. Michael Garfield is what the name of the show,
and my name is all across terrestrially the state of Texas.
Shout out to Houston and Dallas, San Antonio. And if
you're not in those big cities. You are listening on
the iHeartRadio app around the world, no matter where you are.
I had a very busy year traveling and I got
to do something I was really really just you know,

(59:19):
just kind of pleased, and people are still asking me questions.
It was a few months ago. I got to experience
United Airlines Starlink service, which is their super high speed
Wi Fi that they're now rolling out on their mainline fleet.
And it was really cool flying up to Chicago and

(59:40):
you know, sitting with some of the executives and really
being able to utilize the service, which is free by
the way, if you are a mileage BLUSS member. It
was just it's it's it's seamless, and so got big
shout out to what United is doing when it comes
to tech. I had a chance to to speak with
and fly with the their vice president of Digital Technology

(01:00:03):
for United. His name is Grant Millstead. He was nice
enough to give me his phone number. So I'm thinking,
you know what, it's travel season right now, maybe I
see what they have up their sleeve. And so Grant
Millstead joining me right now. Grant, last time we were together,
we were what thirty five thousand feet in the air,
but we were surfing very quickly, weren't we on that

(01:00:23):
Wi Fi?

Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
We were, Michael, it's good to hear from you again,
this time on the ground. But you're right. We were
up in the air on our first.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Ever mainline equipped Starlink aircraft, and honestly, other than being
at thirty five thousand feet, I don't think we would
have noticed otherwise because the WiFi was so incredible.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
It was just like you're in your living room.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
It was, and I know, you know, you did give
us as the media, a little clearing, something different than
what normal consumers and customers get, But we were allowed
to make calls and even test out some quick video
chats and even at the recipients on the ground who
I was calling, they had no clue where I was.
And so it is mind shattering how quickly the technology

(01:01:05):
is taking over, certainly in the airline industry, which is
why I kind of wanted to see if I could
spend a minute or two or three to talk about
some of the really cool things that I've been playing
with with United's technology. I love the app, I mean,
compared to so many other airlines app, but it's so
easy to use with the new travel mode we'll talk
about and the bag tracking, which which is great. But

(01:01:26):
I want to start with, you know, probably the big
thing that is happening in the world today, which as
we know is AI, artificial intelligence. How has United leveraged
technology right now, including what is happening with AI.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
That's a great question, Michael.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
You know, United has been using AI for almost a decade,
and I would say the area that is probably the
most prominent is exactly what you just talked about, which
is within our United app, and it's really around how
we personalize the experience for our customers. A really great
example of that is, you know, hopefully this holiday season

(01:02:07):
nobody runs into any weather or any travel disruptions, but
should you have a delayed flight, one of the areas
that we use AI is actually to write a very
descriptive and transparent status message to tell customers, Hey, what's
going on with the flight, why is it delayed, and
when can they expect to be on their way. And

(01:02:28):
we found that AI was fantastic and taking hundreds of
pieces of data that we have in our operations and
distilling it down to a couple of transparent sentences that
our customers could rely on, and so we use that
and we get really great feedback on our customers getting
more timely, more descriptive, and more accurate flight status messages

(01:02:48):
because of it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:49):
So it's one of the many ways.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
But if you're flying in United, hopefully you don't encounter
any challenges, but should you do, that's one place we.

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
Are using AI.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
Can AI make just put this? What can it help
reduce the number of misconnections, especially during a busy travel
period like this during the holidays.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
You know, we have a connection technology at United that
we call Connection Saver, and it's a technology that honestly
was born out of employee feedback first before customer feedback.
In fact, a lot of our tech ideas that United
come from our frontline employees that see opportunities in the

(01:03:30):
field every day. And what Connection Saver is is it's
a pretty simple concept. You know, we have flights that
are waiting for connecting customers, and we're an on time airline,
and so when it's time for departure, you know, the
standard thing and air travel is to shut the door and.

Speaker 4 (01:03:48):
Be on your way.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
And we had a set of employees come to us
and say you know, I've noticed that sometimes we shut
the door on time and we arrive at our destination
twenty minutes early. And how come we couldn't just wait
that extra twenty minutes to see if any of those
connecting customers would get there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
And so from that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Simple idea we came up with a whole slew of technology.
Because of course it's a little bit more complicated than that.
There's all sorts of things that you need to consider
at the both the departure, the en route and the arrival.
And so that's another point, Michael, where we use AI
to do a lot of prediction national conditions are going

(01:04:27):
to come together, and also predict when those connecting customers
are going to arrive. And through that prediction, we decide
which aircraft we're going to hold and for how long.
And so that technology has been incredibly successful since we
deployed it. We've had three point eight million customers make
their connection when they otherwise wouldn't have. And actually in

(01:04:50):
the state of Texas, where your listeners are at, just
this year, we've saved one hundred and ninety thousand connections
in Houston's Iah Airport and so those customers got to
their connection and without this technology they wouldn't have. So
it's definitely aiding in that connection experience.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Great stat I love it. As we speak with Grant Millstead,
the vice president Digital Technology of United Airlines, it's one
of the features that I like when I pop on
United and I check it out, it's it's real time
data and that's the thing that obviously you continue to
push and people want that because I really I think transparency, Grant,
I mean, that's what people really want. I mean, whether

(01:05:31):
it's your live weather map, real time flight notifications, if
it's on time, it's a Lady delivered. I mean, how
does this technology help customers stay ahead of delays?

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Yeah, well you mentioned a couple of those things, which
is real time information on the flight, transparent flight status stifications.
You know, he talked about weather, and weather's an interesting
thing because weather can be impacting the departure airport that
you're leaving from. It could be impacting the flight route
that we can take because there's weather between the two

(01:06:01):
airports you're flying to, or of course the arrival. And
so we've actually implemented weather maps in the app directly
so you can see the flight plan of the flight
and you can see what we're doing to you know,
navigate around that weather and how it impacts your your
flight status. The other place, however, that I that I'd
highlight that we're using real time information is in the

(01:06:24):
airport experience itself. You mentioned earlier in the segment that
just this week we actually rolled out a brand new
set of features in the app that that we call
Travel Mode, and it creates a whole new tab in
the United app called Travel and that's bringing a bunch
of real time information right into the app. And so
a couple examples of that are for customers that maybe

(01:06:48):
like to you know, sit away from the gate. You know,
maybe they're inside the United Club, maybe they went over
to a restaurant and got lunch, or maybe they're grabbing
a magazine for the flight. You know, there's always the
question of hey, I know boarding started because I have
the app, but I'm wondering are we halfway through or
are we close to the end. And so we've poted
something we call the Virtual Gate and it gives a

(01:07:09):
real time count of how many customers have actually boarded
the flight and how close we are to fully boarding.
And so some customers want to be close to the gate,
and they want to be the first one on. Others
want to wait until closer to the end, and they
get that real time information so they don't need to
sit at the gate and watch the boarding process go through.

(01:07:31):
The other piece of real time information is related to
our United Club members. You know, often customers are at
a new airport, they might not know where the closest
club is, and they're also wondering about crowding. You know, hey,
is there a lot of open seats and is there
enough capacity for me to be comfortable in the club.
And so we just rolled out a new feature called

(01:07:51):
Closest and Best, which is it automatically tells you what
gate your flight is departing from, and it'll tell you
the closest club and also the best club based on
crowding for you to go to. And so customers can
see real time updates on how many folks are in
our clubs and what to expect when they get there.
And we've rolled that out fully in Chicago's O'Hare airport,

(01:08:14):
and we'll have it rolled out to all of United
Club airports here early in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
And so those are just two of many places.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Michael, where you get real time information from the app
to make your travel experience better.

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
Making me jealous. I'm gonna need to join that club
next year, Grant, I see what you're doing. That's a
great upsell. We talked to Grant Millstead, VP of Digital
Technology of United Airlines. Let me get you out of
here on this one. What's one piece of travel tech
that you wish more customers knew about before they fly
this holiday season? A little tip?

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
Yeah, I'd highlight, Michael.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
For our Apple users that have the Apple United app,
many of you have air tags and one of the
things that we worked on was Apple last year was
you know, for customers that have air tags maybe in
their luggage and they check a bag, should they ever
need to share that information with United, there's a really

(01:09:10):
simple and easy way to.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
Do that right in the United app. And so there's
two things i'd highlight.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
One is in the United app, just like you're tracking
your package that you may be watching for a holiday delivery,
and you get those.

Speaker 4 (01:09:23):
Scan by scan updates on a package being delivered to
your home.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
We've recently rolled out a brand new redesign of our
bag tracking and so a package like history of all
of the scans that we have on your bag from
the time you check it till the time it arrives
that its destination.

Speaker 4 (01:09:41):
Is available for you in the app. And should you
know something.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Unfortunately happen where that bag's travel is a little delayed,
you can actually share through Find My Items in Apple,
share your air tag or any Find my Items location
directly with United and so our customer service.

Speaker 4 (01:09:59):
Agent can see that data.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
They can see the detailed map of where that Find
my Item is and that can help us not only
triangulate where your bag is, but also make sure it
gets back to even faster.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
So that's a tip, and I think.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
A lot of your listeners probably already have that in
their luggage, and there's an easy way to share with
United through the app.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
Love that that grade. Oh how far we have come,
at least in my lifetime traveling and United makes it
quicker and certainly easier thanks to you and your team.
Grant Grant Millstead, the VP Digital Technology, United Airlines. Listen, man,
it was great seeing you a few months ago. Congrats
on the big twenty twenty five success you have, and
I'm sure twenty twenty six you're going to keep rolling

(01:10:38):
things out, so between you, Aubrey and the whole staff
over there, keep me update and I hope to see
in the friendly skies again.

Speaker 4 (01:10:45):
Thanks Michael, and happy holiday season to you.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Happy holidays too, my friend. All right, people, we are
going to take one break and tell you what got
not too much more time here, but anybody's got their
fun travel stories. How has technology helped you travel? Some
of the things the tech gear that you bring on
your flights open phone line seven one three two one
two five nine five ozho. The name is Michael Garfield
here on the High Tech Texan Show. I promise the

(01:11:36):
final final segment before Christmas of twenty twenty five. Appreciate
you hanging in there. Michael is the name. Thank you
very much to the folks at United Airlines for lending
their chief technology officer. How come I can't be a
chief technology officer of an airline. I'd assume I would
get like Global Services status first class all the time. Anyway, Grant,

(01:11:57):
great guy. They really do. Their app is pretty cool.
I love the fact that you can track your luggage
right in the app. You can see it coming. God
forbid they get that thing lost. But I'm not saying
they do, but it's some neat stuff. So that's what
I'm here for, trying to utilize technology to get you
through some really cool things. That's what we do here
on the High Tech Text Show. I'm not gonna give

(01:12:19):
out the phone number because we are towards the end
of this show. I do want to pay off something
that I talked about. I think at the top of
the show. Here's a gift that were that was really
hot years ago. Hablets came around and they kind of
slowed this down. It's an e reader. Anybody know what

(01:12:40):
an e reader is. E readers are actually really nice gifts.
Number one. If you read now, I'm gonna throw an
asterisk over here. I am not one for reading now,
Don't get me wrong. I read online. I go on
the web. Maybe I'll through a magazine. If I'm sitting
in the doctor's office, I read online newspapers. But when

(01:13:04):
it comes to books, make this book guy, all right,
I'm so deep right, not a book guy. But it's
an e book. An e book let you put a
libraries worth of books in your pocket. Your phone does
this too, but an e book it offers a lot

(01:13:25):
more book like reading experience, less distraction, less eye strain,
and it's got a number of cool features. You could
adjust a front light. Some of them you really can't
put it in your pocket. Some of them are waterproof.
You could sit by a pool. Some of them offer
actually physical page turning buttons. Can you imagine reading an

(01:13:46):
actual book and turning the page while drinking some coffee.
Some of them even let you take a pen and
put notes on them. There's a number of them. Amazon
Kindle you've heard of. Why not? Amazon the world's largest
bookstore until he started. They came out with their own
any reader, It's Kindle. It's great. So there are a

(01:14:06):
number of them out there. I was looking for some
of them and they're not that expensive. Whether it's again
we are just a few days before Christmas, and maybe
these could be for you. Take a look at this one.
If you're an Amazon fan, someone's got an Amazon you
know subscription, why not download Amazon Books Kindle paper white.
It's been around for about a year right now. It

(01:14:27):
is a great looking screen, little larger screen. It's not
a large device, but it's got a good screen. Grandma, Grandpa,
maybe they have a little hard you know, it's tough
for them to see. Yes, they have glasses. It's a
really big screen, heck of a lot bigger than your
phone screen. It's got a little color, but it's not
a color screen. You could turn the page fast. I

(01:14:50):
like the you know, the graphical us, the user interface,
and about seven and a half, no, it's about seven times.
It's seven inches up and down vertically, five inches across
bit point three inches thick, two hundred and eleven grams.
But if you mostly buy ebix from Amazon, people just
suck it up and buy a Kindle. It's as simple

(01:15:11):
as that. This is the twelfth generation Kindle Paper White twelve.
It's a great choice. Priced about one hundred and thirty
five dollars. You got a little percentage off right now,
good front light, good stuff. And listen, there's been If
you're not into Amazon, there's also a good non Amazon
ebook reader. There's it's from a company called Hobo. Kobo

(01:15:36):
two hundred dollars. It's got a color screen, very sharp,
good resolution. You could physically hit a button to turn
the page. Turn it left, turn it left, turn it. Oh,
we're gonna go back to right. It's got a stylus
that means you could sit there and you could take notes.
Now again, you're going to have to download your books

(01:15:59):
from a few different places. And when I remember saying
this years and years ago, because the readers were like
the thing before tablet's'reroute? How do I know that? Should
I go get something like a Cobo or so get
something from Amazon? To me, it's not so much of
the device, it's the library. Where are you going to

(01:16:20):
drink from? If you use Amazon? If you download Amazon books, well,
dangy going to Amazon. If you don't like Amazon and
you use other things and you can download books from
a number of different places, you don't need Amazon. So
think of it that way too. How about a cheap
I just got an email over here. Who's this from?
This is from Jennifer. Jennifer is in Where's Jennifer Frisco, Texas?

(01:16:42):
Just north of Dallas? Michael, how about I really inexpensive
or cheap e book reader? I know my grandmother is
gonna drop and break it. Good question. Get the regular Kindle.
I just told you about the Kindle paper White. That's
about one hundred and forty dollars one hundred and thirty
five dollars. I think the cheapest one, I say off
for a Kindle ninety dollars good. It's high res display,

(01:17:03):
easy to hold with one hand. They do have some
color options. It's not waterproof, and it's even smaller than
the other one. So it's about one hundred and fifty
eight grams. Very easy to hold it. It's an inexpensive one.
And yes, you can download everything. I'm looking one right now.
You actually can. I mean, I don't know if Gramma
could do it, but I can hold this ear reader

(01:17:24):
in one hand from the left to the right hand
side because it's really only six point two inches across,
which is just a little longer wider than a foam.
There's something you could take notes at. There's other there's listen.
There's other names. I remember Barnes and Noble. What was
that Nook? That was one? Yeah, the Nook is still
out there from Barnes and Noble. There's one from a

(01:17:45):
company called books Box, which kind of sounds like books,
but it's books. There's there's many of them. Listen. There's
expensive one too. Kendall has one. I think that's five
hundred dollars. The Kindle Scribe on a chrome model. It's
do you need one that big. I don't think so.
I do know a lot of people actually utilize their tablets,

(01:18:06):
they use them on their phones each or whatever. But
I'm thinking, if you have someone who just as a
book reader who wants to do it, maybe what's old
is new. Maybe we're going to go low tech. Even
though ebook readers with digital inc. It's not low tech,
but to compare to some of the stuff that are
on the market right now, people, it's lower tech than
know what's out there. And with that the low tech
text and me, yes, I have trademark that though you

(01:18:28):
don't go, that's about ready to sign UF. I do
want to think our good friends Callum and Will Branaires
and all about buying.

Speaker 5 (01:18:35):
Out radio for giving this show on twenty sixteen years.

Speaker 3 (01:18:38):
I do want to issue, as Jerry ary Ny Christmas
pans will never need. And I want to issue health
and luck and the craziest saddest for a year that
many of us can remember in a long time. I
mean twenty twenty six weeks. Justice good, We've got one
more week. We'll sign out with the year. Next week
we'll talk about some of the gifts that you did
not want. I will tell you what to replace him

(01:19:00):
and what to exchange them for always one of my
favorite times of the year, before we do the next
show in Las Vegas at Scene. Yes, thanks James. To
everybody who's been a part of this Happy holidays. We'll
buck to you next week and enjoy the Christmas season.
My name is Michael Garfielder. Right now, my show is
oh BA